The project design is not final, and neither is funding, so Denverites have a chance to pressure Denver Public Works to hit the brakes on widening the street from two lanes to four (five at intersections) if not change the 1950s-style redesign to prioritize buses. DPW will hold a public meeting [PDF] on Wednesday, September 27, to talk with residents about the project. Anyone can show up and give city reps a piece of their mind.

On some blocks the street would go from 29 feet wide to 48 feet wide. Why? DPW claims spending millions will save drivers a little over three minutes during rush hour. We know that widening streets does not fix congestion — it generates more cars and traffic, encourages higher speeds, and creates longer crossings, discouraging safe travel.

Image: DPW

Meanwhile Quebec Street is part of Denver’s high-injury network. So it’s one of 27 streets where about half of all traffic deaths occur. And the city’s Denveright transit plan identifies Quebec as a candidate for high-frequency transit.

Pedestrian advocates WalkDenver stopped short of calling for an end to the widening, but are calling for any new lanes to prioritize buses, not cars.

“Simply widening Quebec would just create more traffic, encourage speeding, and make the street less safe for everyone,” said WalkDenver Policy Director Jill Locantore. “With new sidewalks and dedicated transit lanes on Quebec, more people could travel more safely along the corridor, without relying on their personal vehicles to get where they need to go.”

By the way, people walking, using a wheelchair, or waiting for the bus on this portion of Quebec Street have to trek through dirt, mud, and grass on segments where there is no sidewalk. Plans call for sidewalks to accompany the widening and a bike lane on Syracuse Street four blocks away. What a treat!

Furthermore, the city would have to cut into people’s front yards to make this thing happen. Oh, and the the project could cost $23 million or $41 million; DPW isn’t sure. That’s just for the stretch from 13th to 26th — DPW would prefer this project start at 6th Avenue.

Wednesday’s meeting is one to attend. It’s at the Hope Center, 3475 Holly St., on Wednesday. Show up any time between 5:30 and 7:30 p.m. Spanish translation will be available.

Mayor Hancock isn’t pushing traffic growth. What is pushing traffic growth, and not just on Quebec, is rapid Metro-Denver population and economic growth. Mayor Hancock is trying to do the responsible thing to prevent gridlock, which it seems some of us prefer.

Seeing as how RTD is fresh out of money for transit improvements after wildly over-spending on the portion of FasTracks that has been finished, so broke that they are already talking about cutting back on light rail service on top of bus service cuts, either congestion gets worse or we take responsible steps to reduce congestion that don’t involve spending a lot more of scarce transit funding.

What is the alternative, perhaps leave Quebec as a gridlocked nightmare and widen Monaco to 6 lanes instead? Do remember that about 80% of all Denver metro commuting is done by car and that only 3% or less is done by bicycle. How much freight moves by bicycle or bus?

If all roads were subject to the desires some residents have opposing increasing capacity we wouldn’t have cities, we would have lots of towns as that is all the economic activity we could possibly handle before gridlock set in. An expansion of Quebec is the obvious choice as it much better ties into the existing modern access to I-70 and I-270 than Monaco does.

Just your luck that Quebec used to serve both Stapleton Airport and Lowry AFB too.

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